Heft

Granox bench pressing AN ENTIRE CAR and Kiro is sitting on top acting like it's a ride. And Chooki flipping his shit because KIRO, GET DOWN FROM THERE!!!!!!!

ALSO FUNDED.

It’s not just cars too. Granox has done it with freight crates with Kiro lying down inside with a flashlight, old convertibles with Kiro in the driver’s seat, and sometimes just a loose car seat that he holds and pumps up and down with his arm sort of like a mini drop ride.

Kiro loves it. She’s too little to go on roller coasters with Chooki when the family goes to amusement parks, but Granox doesn’t have a height requirement. All she has to go is find him outside the warehouse after Chooki picks her up from school, ask for a lift, and he’ll heft her onto whatever thing he’s currently pressing and ask about her day and listen to her talk for hours on end (in between squeals when he decides to drop whatever he’s holding a little too quickly, usually on purpose to make things fun). As fun as it is in general, it’s also a bonding experience for the both of them. Granox loves kids and Kiro doesn’t have many friends at school, so that little snippet of quality time helps both of them sort through their feelings for the day. A little girl with abandonment issues and a partially brain-damaged robot who relates best with sparklings? Perfect. BFFs forever.

The first time Chooki caught Granox hefting Kiro up, it was on top of a smashed sedan and even though she was lying flat on her stomach, she wasn’t strapped down. He was mortified. After the second, third, and fourth consecutive times it happened, he started to calm down. Granox wouldn’t hurt Kiro. Not even accidently, Slyger keeps telling him, because Granox knows how important it is to be gentle with kids. And anyone who DOES try to hurt Kiro? He might throw an entire swing set at them.

And in one situation, he does.

And he ends up being wanted—again—by the Canadian Royal Mounted Police.

"I think he’s staring at the fact I look so young and am carrying a baby in my arms," Ven hefted Lacey in her arms before setting her back into her stroller. "I get plenty of people staring on a day like this."

If you’re looking for a good book, I heartily recommend Liz Moore’s Heft. The plot revolves around two narrators, the first being Arthur Opp, who at 58 years of age and 400 pounds has lived like a hermit in his inherited Brooklyn brownstone for over a decade. His single lifeline to the outside world in the 10 year timespan has been intermittent letters from Charlene, a former student and girlfriend of his. Charlene’s son Kel is the second narrator of Heft, and while on the surface it may seem like an eighteen year old baseball star would have little in common with an obese shut-in, Kel has isolated himself emotionally from his friends. Kel’s mother is an alcoholic and their family is poor, things he hides from his classmates in order to blend in more at a high school consisting of kids from wealthy, “normal,” families.

All in all, Heft is a thoughtfully written book about the need for human connection and the attainability of redemption, illustrating through Arthur and Kel that it’s never too late to evolve into being a better person no matter how far you’ve dug yourself into a hole. Parts of the story had me yearning that the characters would get what they wanted to the extent that I found myself worrying about the outcome throughout the day as if these were real people in my life.
I can’t recommend Heft highly enough! Check it out and let me know what you think.